1. Technical Field
The present system and method relate generally to electronic networks, and more particularly to a system and method for automatically configuring customer premises equipment.
2. Description of Background Art
Customer premises equipment (CPE), such as a digital subscriber line (DSL) broadband modem, requires certain configuration information at the time of installation for use with a particular broadband service. For some types of customer premises equipment, the configuration information includes asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) circuit values. ATM is a network technology that allows cells, which are fixed size data packets, to travel on a specific channel. ATM circuit values include virtual path identifier (VPI) values, virtual channel identifier (VCI) values, and ATM encapsulation types. The VPI is an eight-bit or twelve-bit field in an ATM cell header that indicates end-to-end routing information of the cell. The VCI is a sixteen-bit field in an ATM cell header that identifies the channel inside the virtual path over which the cell is to travel. ATM encapsulation type refers to the method used to preserve, or encapsulate, other network protocols, for example TCP/IP, over ATM. ATM encapsulation types include logical link control (LLC) and VC-based multiplexing (VCMUX).
Although ATM circuit values are required to configure customer premises equipment, service providers do not always provide customers with complete configuration information. Moreover, even with the correct configuration information, customers may not correctly enter the configuration information. In either case, not having or not correctly entering the configuration information results in an inability to connect the customer premises equipment to the service provider.
Additional details regarding DSL technology generally are described in Understanding Digital Subscriber Line Technology by Starr, Cioffi, and Silverman, Prentice Hall 1999, ISBN 0137805454 and in DSL—Simulation Techniques and Standards Development for Digital Subscriber Line Systems by Walter Y. Chen, Macmillan Technical Publishing, ISBN 1578700175, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.